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WHAT IS THE KEY TO MAKING A RPG MOST PEOPLE WILL LIKE?
Posts
Rose_Guardian
2346
Rose_Guardian
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CloseI just need some advice. I have making rpgs in rpg maker but what is bothering me is I feel like no one likes my games period. I think this because my games never get a greenlight, they never get featured any where and are never popular and I been making them for years. What am I doing wrong? I know making rpgs should be fun and I do make them because I want too. However what's the point if no one will play them and if I never make one anyone likes. I know you guys and girls are probably thinking this is the stupidest post ever and don't care but I do. So I just need some advice and need to know what I am doing wrong. I wasn't sure where to post this so forgive me if I got the wrong forum.
<Shinan> "What is the key to making a rpg most people will like?" I want to make a post that says "sex"
Rose_Guardian
2346
Um.... I am pretty sure that's not allowed here. Please don't be silly like that. No offense.
author=Yellow Magic
<Shinan> "What is the key to making a rpg most people will like?" I want to make a post that says "sex"
I honestly laughed xD
@Rose_Guardian: Well, the best way to find out what people would like is to gather information from the masses about what they like. Do you like X vs Y is the best way to present a case when finding out how to go about gathering said information. However, the general consensus shouldn't dictate how you make your game. It is, afterall, YOUR game.
Sorry, I was just quoting someone else from IRC.
Where do your post your games? Do you think you do enough marketing? Do your graphics stand out (let's be honest guys this is what first grabs your attention)? How many reviews do your games have? There are a lot of factors in play.
Where do your post your games? Do you think you do enough marketing? Do your graphics stand out (let's be honest guys this is what first grabs your attention)? How many reviews do your games have? There are a lot of factors in play.
LockeZ
I'd really like to get rid of LockeZ. His play style is way too unpredictable. He's always like this too. If he ran a country, he'd just kill and imprison people at random until crime stopped.
5958
Step 1: Make an RPG with first person shooter elements
Step 2: Play up the first person shooter elements as much as possible
Step 3: Remove the RPG elements
...okay but seriously it's basically just a matter of doing a really good job? If your game is good enough at what it does, it doesn't really matter what that is.
Step 2: Play up the first person shooter elements as much as possible
Step 3: Remove the RPG elements
...okay but seriously it's basically just a matter of doing a really good job? If your game is good enough at what it does, it doesn't really matter what that is.
Rose_Guardian
2346
You're probably right I shouldn't worry about what others think. I don't plan to sell any of my games anyway.
You know, I just had a look at your list of games and one of them (Eternal Destiny) has more downloads than all of my previous projects combined...
turkeyDawg
195
Sadness.
Lots and lots of sadness.
Also tragedy.
But most importantly sadness.
Beautiful, sappy, shoujo-esque sadness.
Pianos, music boxes, and sparkling tears EVERYWHERE.
Lots and lots of sadness.
Also tragedy.
But most importantly sadness.
Beautiful, sappy, shoujo-esque sadness.
Pianos, music boxes, and sparkling tears EVERYWHERE.
Rose_Guardian
2346
@SnowOwl Sounds good but I'm a woman and I don't know if the big breasts thing is allowed
@turkeyDawg That sounds like the best ideas so for. I'll think about that one.
@turkeyDawg That sounds like the best ideas so for. I'll think about that one.
author=SnowOwl
Lots of anime girls with big boobs and a story set in a highschool.
Shit, you beat me to it.
@Rose_Guardian: Don't take this personally, but I think the reason why no one is really taking this topic seriously because your not being specific.
As Yellow Magic pointed out, how are you marketing your game? Marketing doesn't necessarily mean you are selling your game for cash, mind you, moreso it means how you are getting the word about your game out to people. The common reason people don't really play games, is simply because they haven't heard of them, so what have you done to let people know about your game?
Also, we can also talk about the quality of the games themselves. Have you ever had a formal review of your games? If not, have you tried asking anyone to review? I think the key here is actually communicating with others to convince them to play your games.
Put your heart into what you make. If you're passionate about the story and the game, others will be.
HOWEVER! You must first know what a good game is - so go play some of the awesome games on this site and some of the bad ones. This will show you what is good and what is not. Make note of the things you didn't enjoy as well as the things you did and refer to that when making your game.
Take time to practise and hone your skills so that you can pull off what you need to in order to create your project. Don't worry that it's taking too long - effort and time reap rewards.
Above all, have fun creating. It can only have positive influences on your game.
HOWEVER! You must first know what a good game is - so go play some of the awesome games on this site and some of the bad ones. This will show you what is good and what is not. Make note of the things you didn't enjoy as well as the things you did and refer to that when making your game.
Take time to practise and hone your skills so that you can pull off what you need to in order to create your project. Don't worry that it's taking too long - effort and time reap rewards.
Above all, have fun creating. It can only have positive influences on your game.
The beautiful artistic flower in me wants to tell you that the only way to make a good game is to make the game you want to make without regards to others, because those are the only games you'll care about enough to turn out your best work.
And that is true, and that's the kind of design philosophy I try to live by myself... But you might notice that Minecraft clones have also been very successful, despite a formulaic and rarely-creative adhesion to the original's mechanics.
Still, assuming you want to make your own games, take a look at games that inspire you and create the feeling you want in your game. Don't copy mechanics like battle systems or item alchemy or minigames outright - study mechanics and understand why they were fun in the game. How did they add to the experience? Would they add the same kind of experience in yours?
Anyway, if you really want to make games that are popular, keep making them and never give up. Figure out how you can improve. Study trends and use them in your games, but don't copy them outright - improve! I've been making games for about 4 years now, and only my last one or two have received any attention at all - and by "attention" I mean they got a couple hundred downloads and a cool review or two.
The final piece of advice has nothing to do with how you make games - be personable. Be likable! Talk a lot on forums! Tweet or something, idk! As dumb as it might seem, there are people who may eventually start playing your games just because you made them, and they liked your last game. People are averse to risking their time (or money!) playing a game by someone they don't know. I do it too - there's probably tons of great games out there I'd love but won't spend the time on - but I can almost guarantee that if Craze comes out with another game, I'll play it, because I liked his last ones and they're usually pretty good. It's probably a sad truth that a lot of good games get overlooked because of this, because it's not easy or always possible to build that momentum and reputation, but that's how it is.
Just keep at it and good luck :) The more you make, the more you'll learn, and eventually the fans will come.
And that is true, and that's the kind of design philosophy I try to live by myself... But you might notice that Minecraft clones have also been very successful, despite a formulaic and rarely-creative adhesion to the original's mechanics.
Still, assuming you want to make your own games, take a look at games that inspire you and create the feeling you want in your game. Don't copy mechanics like battle systems or item alchemy or minigames outright - study mechanics and understand why they were fun in the game. How did they add to the experience? Would they add the same kind of experience in yours?
Anyway, if you really want to make games that are popular, keep making them and never give up. Figure out how you can improve. Study trends and use them in your games, but don't copy them outright - improve! I've been making games for about 4 years now, and only my last one or two have received any attention at all - and by "attention" I mean they got a couple hundred downloads and a cool review or two.
The final piece of advice has nothing to do with how you make games - be personable. Be likable! Talk a lot on forums! Tweet or something, idk! As dumb as it might seem, there are people who may eventually start playing your games just because you made them, and they liked your last game. People are averse to risking their time (or money!) playing a game by someone they don't know. I do it too - there's probably tons of great games out there I'd love but won't spend the time on - but I can almost guarantee that if Craze comes out with another game, I'll play it, because I liked his last ones and they're usually pretty good. It's probably a sad truth that a lot of good games get overlooked because of this, because it's not easy or always possible to build that momentum and reputation, but that's how it is.
Just keep at it and good luck :) The more you make, the more you'll learn, and eventually the fans will come.
I come from the same school of thought as SlashPhoenix. When Jimi Hendrix played, he played for himself. He only did it live when he learned other people wanted to hear him play, too.
Going through my phone's music selection now, finding "All Along the Watchtower."
Going through my phone's music selection now, finding "All Along the Watchtower."
You don’t just make the RPG that most people will like.
You make the RPG that YOU are going to like.
(And then hope everybody else around here likes it just as much as you.)
But yeah, just do the best that you can and hope to Aremen that it hits a home run. Sometimes it also takes a little luck on your side, a little self-marketing, and that one lucky person that happens to stumble upon your game and plays it and then spreads the word to thousands of people via his/her Youtube or Twitter account about it and makes your game even more well known than before.
It’s like a shot in the dark sometimes. But the harder that you try, and the more games that you make, you just might eventually find something in that massive tunnel of despair.
You make the RPG that YOU are going to like.
(And then hope everybody else around here likes it just as much as you.)
But yeah, just do the best that you can and hope to Aremen that it hits a home run. Sometimes it also takes a little luck on your side, a little self-marketing, and that one lucky person that happens to stumble upon your game and plays it and then spreads the word to thousands of people via his/her Youtube or Twitter account about it and makes your game even more well known than before.
It’s like a shot in the dark sometimes. But the harder that you try, and the more games that you make, you just might eventually find something in that massive tunnel of despair.
RyaReisender
200
Well...
I have to step in and say, it's quite different. Most people here are making a game they like or because they have an idea and want to show how good the idea is to others. But this is not always the best way to get >the most< people like your game.
If you just care about many people liking your game, you need to put your own opinions aside and make yourself open for feedback. ALOT. Get people to play your game (demo) and actively listen to their suggestions. Do that until all the suggestions you still get are things you absolutely don't want to have.
This is again different from "How do I get most people interested in my game". That is regardless whether they like it or not in the end, they should follow it, "like it" on greenlight and buy it when it's released? Well in that case it's quite a bit about advertising and how you present your game. The game needs a unique art style for example, this is one of the main things that draw interest at first (you can see this in both Greenlight and Kickstarter, games that look unique have much better chances). Listening to feedback can also help, especially because you are active in communities. For example take Zeboyd, he didn't really do that special games, pretty generic ones actually, just faster paced and enjoyable to play but nothing special, so how did he get so successful? Because he is very active in a lot of communities, asks other frequently and showed his own game design ideas to other. By the time he released his first game, already many people were like "Oh I know this guy, I talked with him earlier!", so yeah that also works (but in his case a lot of the success was also simply from him selling his first game for just $1 and actually getting the game on XBLIG - being listen on a popular platform on "recent releases" is quite the advertisement too).
And well... unique game design can also work, if people read about the idea and think "Hm, that sounds interesting and I haven't seen it before" they are more likely to get interested. I hate to say this, though, because I personally prefer more traditional RPGs (but of course there are also traditional styles that are pretty niche or non-existant these days and still have some demand - Legend of Grimrock for example being successful because of a combination of amazing look and being the only grid-based dungeon crawler released for years).
But yeah the art style makes most of it. If a game looks like made with RPG Maker, then most people on Steam will hate and downvote it (even if it wasn't actually made with RPG Maker at all!). Greenlight is probably not the best place for a traditional RPG Maker game unless you are already really popular anyway and get a lot of upvotes from that.
I have to step in and say, it's quite different. Most people here are making a game they like or because they have an idea and want to show how good the idea is to others. But this is not always the best way to get >the most< people like your game.
If you just care about many people liking your game, you need to put your own opinions aside and make yourself open for feedback. ALOT. Get people to play your game (demo) and actively listen to their suggestions. Do that until all the suggestions you still get are things you absolutely don't want to have.
This is again different from "How do I get most people interested in my game". That is regardless whether they like it or not in the end, they should follow it, "like it" on greenlight and buy it when it's released? Well in that case it's quite a bit about advertising and how you present your game. The game needs a unique art style for example, this is one of the main things that draw interest at first (you can see this in both Greenlight and Kickstarter, games that look unique have much better chances). Listening to feedback can also help, especially because you are active in communities. For example take Zeboyd, he didn't really do that special games, pretty generic ones actually, just faster paced and enjoyable to play but nothing special, so how did he get so successful? Because he is very active in a lot of communities, asks other frequently and showed his own game design ideas to other. By the time he released his first game, already many people were like "Oh I know this guy, I talked with him earlier!", so yeah that also works (but in his case a lot of the success was also simply from him selling his first game for just $1 and actually getting the game on XBLIG - being listen on a popular platform on "recent releases" is quite the advertisement too).
And well... unique game design can also work, if people read about the idea and think "Hm, that sounds interesting and I haven't seen it before" they are more likely to get interested. I hate to say this, though, because I personally prefer more traditional RPGs (but of course there are also traditional styles that are pretty niche or non-existant these days and still have some demand - Legend of Grimrock for example being successful because of a combination of amazing look and being the only grid-based dungeon crawler released for years).
But yeah the art style makes most of it. If a game looks like made with RPG Maker, then most people on Steam will hate and downvote it (even if it wasn't actually made with RPG Maker at all!). Greenlight is probably not the best place for a traditional RPG Maker game unless you are already really popular anyway and get a lot of upvotes from that.
